These mommies-to-be are spilling hot “pregnancy drink” tea.
With bellies filled with delayed babies and hearts set on evicting the little ones out of their wombs as soon as possible, expectant mothers are rushing to Starbucks for a tea rumored to induce labor.
“While you’re 39 weeks [and] 4 days with no signs of labor so that you get the Starbucks ‘Pregnancy Drink’ and hope for the perfect,” penned mom of 4 Mika Laidler, from California, within the captions of her trending TikTok testimonial.
Within the clip, the then-hugely pregnant brunette is seen guzzling the famed cafe’s venti passion tea lemonade with 4 pumps of raspberry syrup.
The concoction, now unofficially referred to as the #StarbucksPregnancyDrink — a hashtag that’s lapped up over 6.7 million TikTok views — has achieved viral acclaim amongst anxious mamas who hope the red refresher will jumpstart the birthing process.
And while most full-term babies typically make their world premieres at 40 weeks, some pregnancy-exhausted women like Laidler are willing to eat, drink or do whatever it takes to kick the child out a number of days shy of their due dates.
Nevertheless, the “Starbuck’s pregnancy tea” wasn’t the primary viral treatment for stalled labor.
In 2017, carrying cuties flocked to Hawthorne’s Latest York Pizza & Bar in Charlotte, N.C., for the hut’s heralded Buffalo Wing Pizza, more popularly know as “the inducer” — a gooey pie slathered in mozzarella cheese, buffalo sauce and chicken — hoping the spicy snack would speed up their labor. Two years later, a Minnesota-based burger joint welcomed “an influx of pregnant women,” who were all looking for its “Labor Inducer” burger, which got here complete with an angus beef patty, honey-cured bacon, peach caramelized onions, spicy mustard and Cajun remoulade on a pretzel bun.
Although there’s little science that proves downing peppery bites or gulping fruity beverages actually makes baby come faster, virtual pregnancy hub WhatToExepect.com does list spicy foods, Balsamic vinegar, dates and raspberry leaf tea as items “commonly thought” to induce labor.
“Red raspberry leaf tea has been said to spice up blood flow to the uterus and thereby trigger contractions,” in line with pregnancy pundits on the positioning. “No study has proven these claims, nevertheless, and experts say that the shortage of quality data makes this tea a dangerous bet.”
Meanwhile, an April 2023 report from the American Pharmacists Association referenced two 2021 studies on the consequences of raspberry tea in late-stage pregnancy — the analyses found little to no link between the drink and labor activation.
Luckily for Laidler, nevertheless, Starbucks’ raspberry-flavored libation fully delivered.
“Update: Drank the ‘Pregnancy Drink’ from Starbucks, and eight hours later [I] gave birth at 39 weeks and 4 days,” she said in a TikTok clip shared immediately after the footage of her sipping the lauded tea.
In her follow-up post, which she titled “Labor Hack,” Laidler is fresh out of delivery, drinking water in a hospital bed.
“It really worked!,” she wrote within the video’s caption, together with tags “#RasberryLeafTea,” #StarbucksDrinks” and “#LaborHacks.”
But some members of Laidler’s online audience, who, tried their hand on the hack weren’t as lucky.
“I’ve been drinking mine on a regular basis and walking baby still not coming. [It’s] been 2 weeks,” groaned an exasperated mom-to-be.
“I drank it each day for 2 weeks, and he was like, ‘Nah I’ll stay’ then labored for 13 hrs before he decided to fulfill the world,” one other woman chimed.
One lady, nevertheless, claims to have shared Laidler’s success.
“Drank it and my water broke less then 4 hours later,” she gushed, “and let me inform you I didn’t consider it before.”
The Post has reached out to Starbuck’s reps for comment about he brand’s latest viral sensation.
